“I can’t understand. Mike is smarter than this, to be duped by A-Rod and fall into this trap,” Dog barked over the telephone Thursday. “This is the guy you’re going to defend — A-Rod? He knows A-Rod did steroids. What do you think, Mike’s stupid? He knows.”

A couple things to consider here. First, Russo could use all the publicity he can get since most people in New York forgot he existed after moving to satellite radio in 2009. Russo starts off his daily show playing Bruce Springsteen’s, “Radio Nowhere” and the irony is apparently lost on him. However you look at it, Russo is clearly Marty Jannetty while Francesa is Shawn Michaels in this strained 1980s pro wrestling analogy.

Russo is also chummy, as he admits in his rant, with MLB commish Bud Selig. Russo will also have a show on MLB Network starting in the spring of 2014, so there’s that to consider.

It also means that any potential “Mike & the Mad Dog” reunion isn’t happening any time soon. It would be fun if Francesa addressed his former partner on the show Friday, however he’s scheduled a special JFK retrospective — seriously.